Tylenol Kills Emotions As Well As Pain, Study
Reveals
Samantha Hemmingway
For decades Tylenol has
been used as a pain-killer, but new research reveals it has psychiatric
side effects including dulled emotional responses to both positive and
negative stimuli.
The public is beginning to
understand that many over-the-counter painkillers do more than just kill
pain, but sometimes kill those taking them.
For instance, A 2013
review of 754 clinical trials published in Lancet found that
NSAID use was associated with roughly double the heart failure risk.
Ibuprofen, in particular, has been estimated to cause thousands to die
of cardiovascular events each year, and according to
the lead researcher of the Lancet review, equally as dangerous for
long-term users as the drug Vioxx which was estimated to cause 30,000
excess heart attacks and sudden cardiac deaths between 1999-2003 alone.
Popular over-the-counter
painkillers include acetaminophen (Tylenol) ,
ibuprofen, napoxen(Alleve) and aspirin,
and many pop them like candy to reduce pain and inflammation without
ever looking to identify and resolve the root causes of their symptoms.
Now, a new study finds that
not only does the Tylenol affect the body, but it also dulls the
emotional responses of users as well.
The groundbreaking new study
published in the journal Psychology Science titled, “Over-the-Counter
Relief From Pains and Pleasures Alike: Acetaminophen Blunts Evaluation
Sensitivity to Both Negative and Positive Stimuli“”, found
that:
“Participants who took
acetaminophen evaluated unpleasant stimuli less negatively and
pleasant stimuli less positively, compared with participants who
took a placebo.”
In the study, participants
were randomly assigned to take either an acute dose of 1,000 mg of
acetaminophen or a placebo, both in a liquid form. As a double-blind
study, neither the experimenters nor the participants were aware of
which they received. After a 60-minute waiting period to allow the
Tylenol to enter their brain, participants were shown pictures depicting
positive and negative events to ascertain the intensity of their
responses.
The researchers discussed the
implications of their findings:
“Across two studies, we
demonstrated that acetaminophen attenuates individuals’ evaluations
and emotional reactions to negative and positive stimuli alike.
These results build on recent psychological research illustrating
that acetaminophen can blunt the intensity with which individuals
experience negative events that originate from physical, social, or
cognitive sources (DeWall et al., 2015; DeWall et al., 2010; Randles
et al., 2013). Further, these findings expand on the research to
date to show that acetaminophen blunts positive evaluations in like
fashion.”
They noted that their
research has significant implications for Tylenol’s psychotropic
properties:
“That a drug
purported to relieve negative evaluations of pain also reduces
positive evaluations of pleasant stimuli suggests the existence
of a common evaluative psychological process that influences a
wide range of thoughts and behaviors. This might mean, for
instance, that certain methods designed to specifically alter
individuals’ reactivity to negative stimuli (e.g., treatment of
phobias) could, if too broadly applied, potentially change their
sensitivity to emotionally evocative stimuli more generally,
including positive events (e.g., causing them to feel less joy
at a wedding). It is interesting that such diminished evaluation
sensitivity could also presumably cause people to feel less
conflicted, indecisive, or uncomfortable when they experience
ambivalence toward individuals or experiences that elicit both
negative and positive reactions (e.g., Priester & Petty, 1996;
Rydell & Durso, 2012).”
Clearly, this study opens
up a disturbing possibility that commonly used pain-killers, work
both physically and emotionally, to blunt the intensity of both
physical and psychological experiences. Were these drugs safe, and
not causing thousands of deaths a year, perhaps this ‘side effect’
could be considered justifiable. But considering that they do indeed
have lethal side effects, it is important for consumers to know that
they also may come with psychiatric ones.
Considering it
took the FDA 32 years after its own expert panel told the
agency in 1977 that it was “obligatory” to put on the warning label
of Tylenol products that it caused “severe liver damage,” we are
doubtful that this information will be disseminated widely any time
soon.
For more information on
the dangers of Tylenol, read the recent ProPublica expose titled, “Use
Only As Directed,” or review our Tylenol
and NSAID databases for hundreds of articles
linking these drugs to dozens of serious health problems.
Source(s):
greenmedinfo.com
http://www.healthfreedoms.org/tylenol-kills-emotions-as-well-as-pain-study-reveals/
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